The son of a Congolese father and a Belgian mother, Vincent Kompany has his whole life considered himself to be 100% both. In recent years, however, he has gained another strand to add to his identity. He now also feels 100% Mancunian. “It is just full of Mancs at my house – what do you want me to do?” he says, breaking into a hearty laugh.
At the beginning of next season, Kompany will reach the 10-year milestone since he arrived at Manchester City, joining a club that back then was climbing fast but still wary of its supposedly innate ability to slip. The City of August 2008 suddenly came into Middle Eastern money but on the other hand had not won the title for 40 years. A handful of years previously they had not even been in the top flight of English football.
Kompany is sitting in the middle of one of the buildings that make up the cavernous, advanced complex the club now operates from and his mind spools back. “It’s incredible,” he says. “It feels like it has been a month, honestly. There is so much experience, so much has changed over that time. Football is so intense you don’t have time to sit back and look at what you have achieved.”
On day one, he did not even meet his team-mates. They had trained in the morning and he arrived in the afternoon so was put through his paces with a few members of staff. “I never met any of the players until the day after I arrived,” he says. “We had a very small session with the team. I never knew any names. I never knew anything about the team. Straight away I was put into the team by Mark Hughes. We played against West Ham, I was man of the match, we won 3-0 and that’s the kind of journey I have been on since. It has been wonderful.”
On Sunday, he is set to lift the Premier League trophy for the third time at the official presentation, surrounded by talented team-mates who make up one of the great collectives in the history of the English game. Kompany is keyed up for a couple more records to sprinkle extra stardust on the occasion. City are three points off setting a new bar since the Premier League began promoting its own brand of history. They are a couple of goals away from breaking through another high. When you have won the league, does that really matter? Kompany’s answer reveals a lot about this intensely driven character.
“We have to care now,” he says. “We keep having goals in front of us. My dream for next season is to come back and see a lot of guys hungry, having that desire to be better, and beat whatever we have achieved this season.”
The old adage about it being tougher to stay at the top than get there chimes with him. It motivates him. “Staying there is a lot harder. Because you have to fight human nature. Once you achieve a goal and you are on that high, you have to consciously pull yourself in to say: ‘I need to have the same hunger and desire as when I had nothing.’ That’s the hardest thing to do in life. That is getting challenged every single day once you win titles.”
Having Pep Guardiola around is a clear influence in respect of the repetition of success he enjoyed at Barcelona. “His inner drive is as impressive as his ability to be a good manager,” Kompany says. “I enjoy it because I really feel I can bounce off it.”
He takes seriously his role as captain in talking to team-mates about their own hunger and the quest for the highest standards. “I have always been like this. When I was six or seven years old I remember players being scared of going back in the dressing room if we lost a game because they knew I would be waiting for them.” He laughs at the memory. “I have changed my ways a little. I am a lot more diplomatic. But I can’t change what is inside of me.
“When I was coming through I had very little support from the older players. I always said to myself that if I make it I never want to be that kind of person. I have a passion for seeing young players develop, so every young player who comes into the first team I am willing to listen. I will give him everything I have.”
Kompany feels such a strong sense of involvement in life at City. This season is not yet finished and he wants to push to go an extra mile next. He contemplates how this campaign has been a procession with a couple of blemishes. By the way, do not expect him to regard that emotional home defeat by Manchester United as a blemish. “The Man United game cannot be a blow. It is an opportunity missed,” he says. “But in the context of this season and the Premier League, what is there to complain about?
“The Champions League is a different discussion. There has been a pattern, a historic one. Not even Pep, nor I, have been able to do anything about it. We didn’t lose to any European team that have shown they are better than us, we drew a Premier League team at Anfield which have been traditionally very difficult for Manchester City. We have a history with them, we had a great chance to turn it, and we were not able to do it. Next year.” He nods to himself. “Will happen.”
Kompany is 32 and even though he insists he feels “as fit as a spring chicken” he knows his playing career cannot be eternal. With that in mind the summer looms large. “I want to win the World Cup. Simple as that. I don’t have another one and another one to play the waiting game or the humble game.
“Our generation has been described as a golden generation. I hate that term. In reality, it put goals ahead of what we were able to achieve. Now is the right time, with the blend and mix of ages and experience in the group.”
As a deep thinker with a highly developed social conscience, traveling to Russia presents ethical questions. “It’s a valid topic but I would hate to jump on the bandwagon. I believe in the power of positive interaction and networking. What difference do we make if we make the gap between countries even bigger? What do we decide – we don’t talk to each other anymore? We don’t see each other anymore? Every single time you bring something positive to a country you have a chance to influence people and their mindset. Building walls and bigger divides, we have seen time and time again what it does.
“I know what kind of world I want my children to grow up in. Punishing and ceasing communication is not good. We have the opportunity to bring something positive.”
Kompany’s football experience means he wants to stay in the game for as long as he can. Whether that is at City or elsewhere he cannot say, even if the Manc part of his identity means he will feel “connected to the club for life”. He is willing to try anything from coaching an under-six team to Fifa president if that is where the opportunities take him.
That is for then. For now, there is a title to cherish. If the first one meant something for its emotional punch, this one means something for its deeper substance. “The first title was living a dream for the first time, believing that good things happen to you as well,” he says. “This title is what it feels to be a champion. The first was more of a test of character. You had to fight 44 years of history, you had to fight that we had the reputation of always bottling it. To overturn this had a big, big impact on this club. This one is more a case of can you be undisputed champions? You are always the champions if you win it on goal difference or by one point, but if you win it like we did, it cannot be discussed. That is a very nice feeling.”
(The Guardian)
